IPMI Sensor and SigNoz Integration

Input and output integration overview

<p>The IPMI Sensor Plugin facilitates the collection of server health metrics directly from hardware via the IPMI protocol, querying sensor data from either local or remote systems.</p>

<p>This configuration turns any Telegraf agent into a Remote Write publisher for SigNoz, streaming rich metrics straight into the SigNoz backend with a single URL change.</p>

Integration details

IPMI Sensor

<p>The IPMI Sensor plugin is designed to gather bare metal metrics via the command line utility <code>ipmitool</code>, which interfaces with the Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). This protocol provides management and monitoring capabilities for hardware components in server systems, allowing for the retrieval of critical system health metrics such as temperature, fan speeds, and power supply status from both local and remote servers. When configured without specified servers, the plugin defaults to querying the local machine’s sensor statistics using the <code>ipmitool sdr</code> command. In scenarios covering remote hosts, authentication is supported through username and password using the command format <code>ipmitool -I lan -H SERVER -U USERID -P PASSW0RD sdr</code>. This flexibility allows users to monitor systems effectively across various environments. The plugin also supports multiple sensor types, including chassis power status and DCMI power readings, catering to administrators needing real-time insight into server operations.</p>

SigNoz

<p>SigNoz is an open source observability platform that stores metrics, traces, and logs. When you deploy SigNoz, its <strong>signoz-otel-collector-metrics</strong> service exposes a Prometheus Remote Write receiver (default <strong>:13133/api/v1/write</strong>). By configuring Telegraf’s Prometheus plugin to point at this endpoint, you can push any Telegraf collected metrics, SNMP counters, cloud services, or business KPIs—directly into SigNoz. The plugin natively serializes metrics in the Remote Write protobuf format, supports external labels, metadata export, retries, and TLS or bearer-token auth, so it fits zero-trust and multi-tenant SigNoz clusters. Inside SigNoz, the data lands in ClickHouse tables that back Metrics Explorer, alert rules, and unified dashboards. This approach lets organizations unify Prometheus and OTLP pipelines, enables long-term retention powered by ClickHouse compression, and avoids vendor lock-in while retaining PromQL-style queries.</p>

Configuration

IPMI Sensor

SigNoz

Input and output integration examples

IPMI Sensor

<ol> <li> <p><strong>Centralized Monitoring Dashboard</strong>: Utilize the IPMI Sensor plugin to gather metrics from multiple servers and compile them into a centralized monitoring dashboard. This enables real-time visibility into server health across data centers. Administrators can track metrics like temperature and power usage, helping them make data-driven decisions about resource allocation, potential failures, and maintenance schedules.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Automated Power Alerts</strong>: Incorporate the plugin into an alerting system that monitors chassis power status and triggers alerts when anomalies are detected. For instance, if the power status indicates a failure or if watt values exceed expected thresholds, automated notifications can be sent to operations teams, ensuring prompt attention to hardware issues.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Energy Consumption Analysis</strong>: Leverage the DCMI power readings collected via the plugin to analyze energy consumption patterns of hardware over time. By integrating these readings with analytics platforms, organizations can identify opportunities to reduce power usage, optimize efficiency, and potentially decrease operational costs in large server farms or cloud infrastructures.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Health Check Automation</strong>: Schedule regular health checks by using the IPMI Sensor Plugin to collect data from a fleet of servers. This data can be logged and compared against historical performance metrics to identify trends, outliers, or signs of impending hardware failure, allowing IT teams to take proactive measures and reduce downtime.</p> </li> </ol>

SigNoz

<ol> <li> <p><strong>Multi-Cluster Federated Monitoring</strong>: Drop a Telegraf DaemonSet into each Kubernetes cluster, tag metrics with <code>cluster=&lt;name&gt;</code>, and Remote Write them to a central SigNoz instance. Ops teams get a single PromQL window across prod, staging, and edge clusters without running Thanos sidecars.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Factory-Floor Edge Gateway</strong>: A rugged Intel NUC on the shop floor runs Telegraf to scrape Modbus PLCs and environmental sensors. It batches readings every 5 seconds and pushes them over an intermittent 4G link to SigNoz SaaS. ClickHouse compression keeps costs low while AI-based outlier detection in SigNoz flags overheating motors before failure.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>SaaS Usage Metering</strong>: Telegraf runs alongside each micro-service, exporting per-tenant counters (<code>api_calls</code>, <code>gigabytes_processed</code>). Remote Write streams the data to SigNoz where a scheduled ClickHouse materialized view aggregates usage for monthly billing—no separate metering stack required.</p> </li> <li> <p><strong>Autoscaling Feedback Loop</strong>: Combine Telegraf’s Kubernetes input with the Remote Write output to publish granular pod CPU and queue-length metrics into SigNoz. A custom SigNoz alert fires when P95 latency breaches 200 ms and a GitOps controller reads that alert to trigger a HorizontalPodAutoscaler tweak—closing the loop between observability and automation.</p> </li> </ol>

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